This movie would not be allowed if it was made today.
In bar light, she looked alright / In daylight, she looked desperate
Of course that line was typical of the script, which was all stilted speech pulled from comic books and old-school pulp adventure novels.
This movie was a parody of James Bond movies - read some of those Ian Fleming novels (still quite current in the mid-60s) for some real jaw-dropping dialog!
Eastern ways ARE filthy. You may not want to know this, but Kali--one letter off the HELP goddess of blood sacrifice Kaili--is a real figure in Indian religion. Since 1300, her followers have been called Thugees, root of our word "thug", who are estimated to have killed millions of people. Yes they robbed them too, but the killing was the main motive. And yes, Kali as depicted has 8 arms or at least 4.
I sure didn't know that in 1965. But the writers did.
_______________________
It's twue! It's twue!
It tickles me to think that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom also revolves around the goddess Kali and human sacrifice. Having seen Temple first, it was a little weird to watch Help and see a Kali-like goddess and a Thuggee-like sacrifice being played for laughs, when previously I'd seen it played for anything BUT.
As I said in a post on the Temple of Doom board, I get a kick out of imagining the situations reversed--with Indy and his friends bursting into Beatles songs (that scene when Indy is waiting for Willie in his room would have been perfect for "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"), and the Beatles watching in horror as some poor schmuck gets his heart ripped out.
(You need look no further than his performances in The Prisoner and The Omen to see that Leo McKern could probably play a SCARY villain as well as a comic one, too.)
Also amusing to think the Beatles soon would embrace those "Eastern ways" whole heartedly with George keeping with him til the end.
I've seen the future and I've left it behind.